My Christmas Vacation
by Purple Lace
Summary: What will Atlanta do when her mom can't afford to send her home for the holidays? She sits alone in the Brownstone until an unexpected vistor pays her a happy christmas AxA, oneshot


A/N:Ok, random oneshot, don't worry, I'm still updating Guiding your arrows, I've already acctualy writen the last two chapters and will post then soon

"Only one week till Christmas" Theresa exclaimed while running up to the rest of the gang at breakfast

"So are all you guys going away for the holidays?" Jay asked, he felt concerned that this would be a prime time for Cronus to attack

A jumbled amount of yes came from the rest of the group.

"Mail" Harry called out as he came back in from getting the morning paper "mostly Christmas cards and a letter for Atlanta" he continued. He passed the letter to her

"Who's it from?" Archie asked stuffing his face with waffles

She read through the letter, her smile slowly deteriorated with each line she read

"Never mind my last comment, I wont be leaving" The rest could see she was trying to hold back tears

"What's wrong?" Archie asked looking down at her

"The letter's from my mom, my parents got a divorce last month" she said looking down at the table, everyone stared at her "They've settled everything, my dad has custody over my two brothers and my mom over me" she took a deep breath "after they split everything, my mom moved to Montreal after that, she didn't have enough left to fly my out to her over the holidays"

"I'm really sorry" Theresa whispered

"Nah" Atlanta looked up forcing a smile "it's ok, I'll man the fort while you guys are away" she got up and left for her room

School finished the previous day and everyone was leaving tomorrow to see their families. Atlanta sat down at her desk and started to write her mom a letter.

_Dear mom,_

_I'm sorry about what happened between you and dad, I hope your ok. I can't believe I'm not going to be able to see you this Christmas. Montreal must be nice in the winter, I'd think I'd be cold though, anyways, happy holidays, I hope to see you soon_

She attached it to a package containing a sweater she had bought her for Christmas.

The day past, they exchanged Christmas presents, Atlanta's favourite was a new set of a bow and arrows Archie and Theresa had pooled together to buy her. They drank hot cocoa and sang carols along with a CD in the living room and Jay caught Theresa under the mistletoe and they shared their first kiss. But the day did come to an end, everyone was packed and ready to head out in the morning.

Atlanta slept uneasily that night, she dreamt she was alone in the darkness, she called out for her friends no one called back. Cronus stepped out of the darkness

"_They've left you, they didn't want you around any more" he laughed maniacally_

She woke up in a cold sweat

_No, they do care about me, they're just going away for the holidays, nothing more_ she thought to herself, she fell back onto her pillow and dozed back of to sleep.

She woke back up and looked at her bedside clock, it was nine o'clock. She got up brushed her teeth and made her way down stairs in her pyjamas. Everyone else was fully clothed and eating breakfast.

"So, everyone remember to keep their PMRs charged and on them at all times encase Atlanta needs to reach us" Jay reminded everyone, they all looked at him as though it was the thousandth time he'd reminded them, and it probably was.

Breakfast was quieter than usual, their where few words exchanged. When everyone was done they gathered their thing and started heading towards the door, they all looked back at Atlanta who was standing next the couch. Theresa walked over and gave her a hug goodbye before she joined the others. They all waved at her as they got into Herry's truck, she waved back. Her hart was heavy, this would be her first Christmas alone. She closed the door, sat on the couch and turned on the TV. She flipped through the channels until she came across "Charles Dickens a Christmas Carol". She fell asleep watching it.

_knock, knock, knock_

Atlanta was awoken by the sound of pounding at the door.

_Who the hell could that be_ she got of the couch and looked at the clock, it was noon.

_Wow, I wouldn't have thought I was that tiered after I just woke up_ she thought to herself. She made her way to the door and looked through the door hole, it was Archie standing their with his luggage on the front step. She opened the door

"What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise

"Theirs a storm on my family's end on the flight that's supposed to last for a couple days, my flight got cancelled" he responded scratching the back of his neck. "May I come in?" he asked still standing in the doorway.

"Yah, of course" she said staring in disbelief as he walked into the Brownstone

"So, what where you planning on doing?" Archie asked as he made his way over to his room

"Nothing really, watch some TV, that's pretty much it" she replied following him

"Hmmm, you wanna go ice skating this afternoon?" he asked while putting his stuff away

"Sure, but it's already the afternoon" she joked

"Well then, you should probably get changed unless you want to go skating in your PJs" he laughed

She got dressed and grabbed her skates. They took the bus to the pond instead of Archie's motorcycle because they found the ice on the ground might make the trip to dangerous. When they got their the pond was occupied to the edge with teenagers playing hockey. They asked if they could join. They looked at them.

"He can play, but not the chick, we don't wanna lose" one kids said

"Hey, that chick could probably kick your ass" Archie replied back to them, Atlanta started to blush knowing that her best friend was defending her

"Oh yah/ Ok, one on one, her vs. me" he looked at her, a smirk came upon her face. She laced up he skates and was on the ice faster than you could say hockey.

"Chuck" They boy called out to one of his team mates "drop the puck"

He responded and aligned them to the centre of the pond, he dropped the puck. He boy had taken the puck first

_I knew the chick couldn't play, what the_ he was cut of in thought when Atlanta raced by him stealing the puck and screaming down to the other end at top speed. She shot, she scored.

All the other hockey player stared at her in disbelief

"Hey gurlie, you still wanna play?" he kid asked

she looked at Archie

"Not really" she tossed them back the stick, she walked back over to her friend who was waiting at the sidelines. They both laughed as they walked away.

Each day they would plan something to do, and every morning Archie would hop on the computer to check the weather reports. They both had a lot of fun snowboarding at the local mountain, tobogganing, having snowball fights.

Christmas day had come, they went out to the supermarket and picked up a small turkey and a cookbook.

"Let's see, neither one of us knows how to cook a turkey" Atlanta stated

"Nope" he replied

"And we're going to try and cook a twelve pound bird in the oven for the first time, without Athena's help" Atlanta laughed

"We've been doing ok without her so far" he looked down at her

"You're right, theirs a first time for everything" she said as she read the cookbook instructions

They ended up cooking the turkey fairly well without burning it and spend Christmas evening together. After dinner they walked down to a local garden that had put up a Christmas lights display. It was absolutely gorgeous they both thought. They walked along the snow glazed path in their warm coats and mittens and stopped to look at a fountain that had surprisingly not frozen over. Archie looked up to the lit arch they where standing under. Above was a single piece of mistletoe. He nudged Atlanta to look up, she did, and giggled. She leaned in, as did he, their lips met, they pulled themselves closer together. It might have been negative 3 degrees outside, but they would never have noticed with the heat they where feeling between them.

Atlanta slowly pulled away, her eyes closed, she savoured the taste of his lips, and opened her eyes. She was gazing into Archie's. They walked hand in hand along the rest of the path stopping under every piece of mistletoe they could find. They took their time on the way back, Archie's arm around her shoulder keep her warm, they had fallen asleep on the couch her head on his shoulder.

Atlanta woke up at around eight the next morning, she thought she might check the weather report for Archie. She stared in shock at the screen, their had never been a storm near Archie's home town.


End file.
